In addition to broad themes such as carbon credits, van Tonder highlights five significant technical points architects and project managers should bear in mind when addressing lighting installations in new and retrofitted projects: • Replacement without customer concessions: Pharox LED bulbs are designed to produce the same warm white light (which is the ideal replacement for traditional halogen and incandescent lighting) or cooler white colours (for more commercial or industrial applications) in terms of efficiency and longevity. The key design departure being that the client has the same quality of colour and level of lighting they were used to, but now at vastly reduced energy consumption rates of up to 90%. • Lower maintenance and replacement costs: Pharox LED lights have a lifespan of 35 000 to 80 0000 hours, which reduces lighting maintenance and product replacement costs significantly. • Mercury content: Pharox LED bulbs are the only way to ensure mercury free lighting. Recent studies indicate that a single fluorescent tube can contaminate in excess of 20 000 litres of ground water. • Recyclable: The best new generation LED lights are manufactured according to a cradle to cradle philosophy, which means the vast majority of the light and all its constituent parts are recyclable. The recyclable portion of the light should be in excess of 90%. • Pharox LED technology: The light source of the Pharox LED bulb is actually an array of microchips of different colours that combine to generate a specific light spectrum. The globe runs far cooler than traditional products as it does not rely on heating a filament metal to generate light, and is thus longer lasting and more efficient. “Research, research, research” says van Tonder. “That’s the only way to make sure that the system you’re using in a project is as cost effective, efficient and green as the service provider claims. The reality is that one LED solution can be as much as 50% more efficient than another. So professionals owe it to themselves to do their homework, and to take the broadest view possible of each system and the bottom line green benefits it actually offers.” It is not only the corporate sector that should be taking a holistic and longer term view on expenses on energy efficient technologies, but also the individual
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customer. The Return on Investment (ROI) of switching to good LED technology will in most cases end up in a breakeven or cash neutral scenario when energy consumption reduction, longevity, carbon credits and numerous other benefits are taken into account. “At Lemnis Lighting this is certainly our focus – taking a broad, holistic view ensures that our Pharox lights are able to remain the market leaders,” concludes van Tonder.
LED’s Kick-off Lemnis Lighting Africa’s world first carbon reduction project is successfully registered, enabling the generation of carbon credits trough the installation of Pharox LED lights. To achieve Lemnis’s lofty goals such as electricity saving, being environmentally friendly and assisting communities, the exciting, innovative Kick-off project was launched. It focuses on the following: • Large scale refitting of inefficient traditional lights with highly efficient Pharox LED lights thereby contributing to mass roll-outs of LED in South Africa and achieving up to 90% saving in electricity consumption. • The reduction of carbon emissions. It is at a minimum of 5.6 million tonnes of CO2 during the lifetime of the project. • To demonstrate the use of clean technology in demand side programmes (DSM) to significantly reduce electricity usage, thereby contributing to DSM and climate change objectives of the South African government. • To support local communities by providing educational programmes on “how to become a climate hero!” as an inherent part of the project, as well as providing LED lights for rural areas and longer term employment opportunities through local manufacturing and R&D.
2014/01/29 10:22 AM